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Egypt, general information

Interesting facts on Egypt

Note that some of the information (gas prices!) can be outdated since we made this page after visiting the country for the last time!
Official name Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiyah (Arab Republic of Egypt)
Area 1,001,450 square kilometer (24x Holland), including the Sinai; only 66,000 km2 is inhabitable.
Number of inhabitants 74.7 million (July 2003);
Population density 74 people per square kilometer when calculated for the whole country, but 1132 per km2 inhabitable area.
Capital Cairo
Monetary unit Pound (EGP), divided into 100 piaster. 1 pound is about € 0,14 (Jan. 2009); 1 € = about EGP 7,33. (1 € = $ 1.24; 1 Dollar = € 0.7; Rate in Jan. 2009)
Fuel prices Gas: € 0.25; Diesel: only € 0.10 per liter
License plate of cars ET
Telephone country prefix 20
Internet country code .eg
Time difference GMT+2; one hour later than in Holland
Road network Fairly good in the inhabitable regions
Prices in general Prices are cheaper than in Europe, except for the obvious touristic places
The best in Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiyah (Arab Republic of Egypt) Well, there are many beautiful things to see, like the magnificient antiquities (tombs in the Valley of the Kings, temple of Hatshepsut) but the Nile, especially near Aswan, is also a pretty sight.

Geographical data

In the north Egypt borders to the Mediterranean Sea, in the west to Libia, in the south to Sudan. East of Egypt are the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba and to the northeast Egypt borders to Israel and the Gaza Strip. Remarkable is the very narrow inhabitable Nile Valley going from south to north, while more than 95% of the country consists of deserts. The main part of Egypt lies on the African continent but the Sinai belongs to Asia.
More information at nationmaster.com.

Population

More than 90% of the population is of Eastern-Hamitic origin but has been totally arabised. The largest minority is formed by the Nubians (about 6 million people) who mainly live in southern Egypt. There are also some small groups of Berbers and Bedouin nomads. A few million Egyptians live and work in Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain.
Almost 34% of the population is younger than 15. The average life expectancy for men is 67 years and 73 for women.
More information at nationmaster.com.

Languages

Almost 98% of the population speaks Egyptian-Arabic, a dialect of the Modern Standard Arabic. It is also the most important Arabic spoken since Egypt produces most of the Arab films, tv-series and music. Almost everyone in the countries where Arabic is spoken can understand an Egyptian. There are some minorities which speak Nubian, Berber and Coptic.
Look at ethnologue.com for more information about the languages in Egypt.

History

Egypt is well known for its long recorded history and the many monuments that still can be seen. We have decided not to write a detailed history anymore, since there is already a huge amount of information on this topic on the internet. Instead a few links with more information about Egyptian history:
The history of ancient Egypt Gateway to ancient Egypt Ancient Egyptian history & chronology A short survey of Egyptian history History of Egypt

Climate

Egypt has a desert climate with hot, dry summers and moderate winters. Difference in temperature in the day and night can be quite big. The hot summer starts in May while in November the mild winter starts. Rainfall is very sporadically and only falls in the north.
More information at 1uptravel.com.

Flora and fauna

The valley along the Nile is a highly cultivated landscape where date palms prevail. And of course the protected lotus and papyrus, sumbols of Egypt, grow near the Nile. The most common animals are the many fish species in the Nile and the Red Sea and there are many bird species. In the deserts still live some wild animals.
More information on the flora and fauna of Egypt can be found at this website.

The actual weather in Egypt:

Cairo Luxor Aswan Hurghada
© Teije and Elisabeth 2000 - 2012
Travel through Europe and Africa

with Elisabeth and Teije